Aboard Kodiak transport, en route to UNSC Infinity, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 13:05
"They did a lot of damage. They weren't exactly "careful", Commander. I don't know..." Engineer Adams said as he crossed his arms and shook his head. "I'm not sure what data they accessed, what's still there. And EVA was only fixed up because of EDI. This isn't my field of expertise. I'm more of a ship guy."
Shepard nodded, turned from the Kodiak video screen to the mauled EDI. So far it seemed only internal wires were disabled and ports breached as ONI bluntly tried to access all data.
"Try to work with Specialist Traynor and other cryptologic specialists aboard. Do all you can. Just try to transfer EDI's body out of EVA and back to the ship. Once we're freed up, Tali and I will try to help you as best we can. If we can't accomplish anything, we can always go to the Geth," Shepard responded.
Adams nodded, didn't say anything else.
Another voice came from the background. "Man, imagine it. A bunch of strange men running their hands up and down all over. Fingers gently caressing and running across her smooth skin, over every curve. Lucky bastards."
"Kenneth, please shut up," Another voice responded.
"Do what you can. Shore crew and I are heading back to the Infinity bridge to speak with the Captain," Shepard said. "Any problems with the Normandy still docked?"
"Uh, no problems with the drive or other systems. A couple soldiers, engineers I think, came over and asked if they can look over the engine. They had a few tools and some weird...purple floating ball with a blue head….I don't know what it was but Joker didn't allow it on the ship." Adams replied
Purple floating ball? Well, it isn't the strangest thing Shepard had heard of all day. He sighed, acknowledged Adams and signed off.
Adams didn't seem too distraught… Unlike Traynor. Didn't seemed phased or disturbed by Commander Shepard. Maybe word hadn't spread yet.
Shepard told James to drop off EDI back on the Normandy after he dropped off Shepard and the crew.
It was a smooth ride back to the five kilometer ship. Shepard finally sat in his seat. An instant rush of pain ignited in his legs. He didn't give his body a chance to rest, and the moment he relaxed, the moment he took ease, it striked.
He felt like cramps were coming. He felt dizzy and nauseous. When's the last time he ate?
It didn't matter. Unfortunately. There were larger issues at the moment, one of them being a fatal, stupid mistake he could've easily avoided and he wasn't a hundred percent sure on how to deal with it...to contain it.
He looked to his crewmates, making sure they were doing okay. Tali was leaning out of her seat, head down, body slouched and loose, swaying in any micro-grav direction the inertia dampers couldn't suppress. He noticed the small white lights were gone. Eyes closed.
He turned to Liara. The small cuts and gashes were now filled with caked purple blood. The shimmering skin was covered in dried sweat. Small areas of dirt were embedded on her checks. She dozed off, trying so hard to keep her eyes opened. A small jolt from the Kodiak frantically woke her up. She breathed heavily, eyes wide open, searching the area as if there was an enemy on board.
She sighed, put a hand to her head to try and relieve the constant headaches. She continued to deeply breathe and stood up straight to help her stay awake.
"Stopping that soldier, the Master Chief…" She trailed off, shook her head.
"Was he a biotic?" Shepard asked.
"No. Physically, it was like trying to stop a building from falling. He had so much brute strength he was able to move in a stasis field."
Shepard nodded. Her stasis field stops nearly any enemy in their tracks and keeps them still for a small period of time. The eezo engulfs their body and entraps them...at least that's the basic explanation Liara gave to Shepard. Everytime she used it, it worked. The enemy, Reaper or Cerberus soldier, couldn't move.
And to think not even that could stop him… He kept beating that soldier long after he was down. The Chief essentially just brushed Shepard off when he tried to stop him, unnoticing. He was so...immersed in what he was doing
Shepard rubbed his face which was also caked in dried sweat and blood. He felt beyond exhausted, but it didn't matter. There were plenty of days like this and there were bound to be a lot more ahead, under worse circumstances. The adrenaline was wearing off. He could feel his legs tightening up again. Another extremely painful cramp bound to come. Another magnesium pill to ward it off. His hands were shaking from a mixture of lack of sleep, food, and possibly just fear and the constant anxiousness the crew went through everyday.
...And the crew had to look for someone who seemingly had it under control.
And on top of everything else...they still had the official first contact meeting with Captain Lasky, and with this 'Lord' Hood. Kai Leng won't be there. Cerberus packed up his unconscious body fast. They didn't want the UNSC to find all the Reaper implants every Cerberus combat soldier had.
Shepard had a feeling who Cerberus would send… But still, Shepard hoped to God it won't be who he thought it was.
Well, everything would be made clearer at this meeting. A deeper understanding of the nature of the UNSC, the people they were revealed through the extreme in depth questions Liara had. Maybe the UNSC will come to understand who Cerberus really was, who the Reapers were. Guide them along the line to the Council… add their ships and soldiers to the galactic readiness roster for the Crucible.
"If only he could do what he did to a Reaper." Garrus said. Shepard turned to find him leaning against the cockpit doorway. "The MAster Chief seemed like a nice guy. Strong, silent type. Should've recruited him for the circus sideshow we built to take down the Collectors."
At least Garrus was doing okay. He had time to rest and take it easy as best you could. Maybe he should do the talking at the meeting.
"They keep saying he's a hero, saved them all during that...war they had five years ago. Any idea why they think so highly of him?" Shepard asked.
"Well, I mean the sure built him to be a hero. He's so tall, and probably dark and handsome underneath that helmet too. I don't know. A lot of people out in the galaxy view you as a hero and what have you done?"
Shepard didn't say anything, only smirked and rested his head against the metal wall of the transport.
Everything Shepard did in the past few years was to essentially delay the Reaper invasion, and so far his actions were seemingly for nothing. But then again, as Garrus had said after Palaven, maybe if it weren't for those actions things would be a lot worse...if that was possible. Either way, they wouldn't find out till after the war ended.
When it ended...if they'll be here when it ended.
"Well, just be glad people like him aren't representing our 'potential' allies. At least Captain Lasky seems...mostly reasonable so far," Garrus added.
That's all they can hope for. At the end of the day, this diplomatic charade wasn't much different from allying the other galactic races when Shepard thought about it. It was just for once they found something that presented itself as more powerful than the Reapers, able to beat them back instead of slowing them down long enough to finish the Crucible.
The transport rattled. James announced they'll reach the Infinity in two mikes.
Break's over. Time to move.
Shepard stood up and tried to ignore the stinging pain in his body. The constant, partially numbing soreness in his muscles. Hopefully no more combat for a while.
He almost wished for smooth negotiations.
Miracles were rare nowadays though.
Aboard UNSC Infinity
Minimum safe distance from UNSC Staff of Charon
2557 Military Calendar, 13:01
"The Cerberus ship is staying at a healthy distance of one-hundred-twenty thousand clicks….Stand by I'm receiving a direct hail." Roland said, moving to a communications screen.
Lasky acknowledged and looked to the Staff of Charon. Admiral Alvares pulled off a couple of Marathon cruisers to provide cover as the UNSC scavenged everything they could before they scuttle the ship. From the voyage transmitter, they discovered a prowler was launched right before the ship was hit. God knows where it was now, but one thing was certain: it's still in system.
Every ONI agent and security soldier aboard was placed under arrest but so far they weren't saying a damn thing to the few JAG and NCIS investigators the military had.
EDI had been found with a bunch of Cerberus engineers. They were forced to hand the robot over to the UNSC, and Captain Lasky made sure it was handed over back to Commander Shepard and his crew.
Captain Florence… was punched in the back by a Spartan, a III. If it were five-hundred years ago he would've been permanently paralyzed. But in the era of the 2550s, it just required tricky surgery to realign and properly fix the spine, clean up spinal fluids, and reestablish neural connections. The bastard was just lucky to be alive. He's out of the game, but he should make a speedy and full recovery. Lasky planned to question him to find out what the hell happened and what the hell was going on.
Lieutenant Leng suffered a major concussion along with skull fractures. No brain damage according to the corpsmen in their reports. No indication of brain trauma or swelling of any kind. There was some type of neural protection linings that saved him from the majority of the impact.
Cerberus took Leng and their men into medical care and there was really no reason for the UNSC to decline. But Cerberus medevaced men pretty fast before the corpsmen could even begin their work on them. Maybe they just wanted to get their survivors out of there.
As for the Spartan-IIIs… When Lasky reported the events to the interval ship Salvation, it returned back from the God's Key with orders from Lord Hood to put the Spartans on the next transport out to be handed over to NAVSPECWAR.
For a new assignment Lasky assumed. Christ.
"Woah," Roland said, inputting dialogue sequences.
"What is it?" Lasky replied, turning away from the bridge viewport
"This isn't some gravitational depression-emitting wave. It definitely isn't conventional. It's a particle...Jesus." Roland rubbed his head. "The UNSC experimented with this over three hundred years ago and it failed. Quantum Entanglement. The hail is through Quantum Entanglement."
It sounded slightly familiar. If Lasky remembered correctly the UNSC was able to maintain and stabilize the entangled particle but they never found a way to make the particles do what they want. They couldn't control whether the particles moved up or down or side to side, so on and so forth. And Lasky figured they might've been able to fix the problem but when Shaw and Fujikawa opened the door to slipspace, quantum entanglement became useless and subsequent projects were abandoned.
"Don't we need an entangled particle to relay the signal? How is this possible?" Lasky leaned forward. He felt his legs creak as he slightly bent them. How long had he been standing?
"Well, the entanglement is directly with the Cerberus ship. But they're translating the signal over here from a stream entanglement to a radio wave. Hold on, because this isn't just a gravitational depression but a particle, I can read the particle structure. Let me see if I can access it…." Roland moved to another screen and began the decryption process.
Maybe four seconds passed by. That was too long for an AI. "Something wrong, Roland?"
"Impatient are we?" He replied. "Well, I'll admit this is harder than usual. This thing is heavily encrypted. Probably better than what we encountered so far...probably better than some UNSC channels."
Lasky tiredly nodded. If he connected the line, it'd be breaking comms protocol. How many protocols had he broken so far though? He was already in deep and there was no stopping it.
Roland knew that too.
"Scan the frequency and the horn, make sure it's safe."
Roland confirmed and began to analyze. Lasky moved on to other reports, quickly checked over the battle group positions. So far, the squids were being hammered. The UNSC was making decent progress in the void and slow progress on the ground. But progress nonetheless.
Lt. Colonel Buck and Commander Palmer confirmed they're making their final push for the city. But not only was there a large amount of squid ground forces in the stupidly massive city, there were also a lot of civilians trapped everywhere.
The Army Corps of Engineers and Naval Seabees secured and established a safe zone for a UNSC base of operations and areas for civilians about a klick outside the city. The surgeons were doing all they could but they've only been able to help Human civilians. Biofoam seemed to work for certain aliens but for species like the avian-like race, the Turians, it killed them after a certain amount of exposure (yeah...they had to experiment). So the UNSC was doing the best they could with what little they had. Buck and Palmer's men were instructed to comb for xeno civilian or military medical personnel to help with the wounded.
But with the civilian clusters it proved to be difficult for the Navy to provide support. Precision MAC strikes and stratospheric bombings were required unlike the usual nuclear strikes and the heavier, blind MAC bombardments. Lasky just wouldn't allow it. Not when there's a chance to save the city and the civilians. Luckily the radiation from the Legend After crash site was traveling east, away from the city. Army DEACON units were deployed to secure the radiation zones and make it as safe as possible. Thank God Captain Florence locked down the triple nuclear reactors, otherwise there'd be a large hole in the planet.
Overall, the UNSC had evacuated around five-thousand civilians and the number was expected to grow. Civilian evac lines and city lockdowns were handed to the Army while the Marines pushed through. The Navy was provided support and arrested large portions of land in open countryside while gaining slow control over the solar system.
"Sir, the horn looks stable. No malicious intent as far as I can tell," Roland reported.
Lasky waited for a moment, then nodded. "Connect the horn."
The AI complied and tapped on the screen. It took him moment. He said that the signal being transmitted was a life-size hologram of a Human being.
Lasky switched over to the platform holo-display located directly in front of the viewing glass.
He walked over as Roland activated the hologram and small blue particles began to slowly materialize and form a figure. The legs, the lower body, the upper body, and finally the head.
Not a man Lasky exactly expected.
The blue figure took the cigarette out of his mouth and blew a small puff of smoke. His legs were covered in custom tailored expensive dress shoes and solid colored dress pants. His suit had some type of half-rectangle cut right under the white collar, revealing a white shirt with a deep V-neck. In the center of his chest were three little white buttons, two on the top and one on the button arranged in a upside down triangle formation.
He was in his mid fifties. Serious, angry, and tired. No joy ever seemed to pass through his face. He had close-cropped, gelled wavy hair, making him look like some celebrity, Hollywood type. But what struck Lasky was the eyes. Three bright dots in the iris. Two at the bottom of the iris and one on top in a triangle formation. Individual diagonal lines connected the dots in a circle. About seven lines in between each dot. It surrounded a shining, solid blue empty circular pupil.
"Captain Thomas J. Lasky I presume," he said, calmly, patiently. A smooth, relaxed voice. Stern but a tone balanced to where it needed to be.
And this figure and his voice was eerie and enigmatic. Secrets and darkness seemed to surround him.
Lasky responded with military stoicism. The serious, voidless and respectful tone, and who am I speaking to?"
He took another puff of his cigarette. It lit up. "You already...know of my subordinate, Lieutenant Kai Leng. And I deeply apologize for any… inconvenience he and my men may have caused. Yet judging from the situation, I deemed the risk necessary.
"I also apologize, Captain, but who I am is only accessible for a select few. Yet for the sake of convenience you may call me the Illusive Man. The third, second, and first head of Cerberus."
An eerie, quiet mood encompassed the whole bridge through his mere presence. Lasky stood at parade rest. Hands rested at the small of his back, feet shoulder length apart at forty-five degrees. And the person on the holographic display, the "Illusive Man" as he stood with his back to the black void and a quarter of the sphere of the habitable world in the corner view, remained relaxed with a cigarette in one hand and another hand at his side.
"So you're in charge of Cerberus...Illusive Man?" Captain Lasky responded. To him the name was...a little strange.
"Indeed. Secrecy is our weapon, Captain. We don't possess a capable direct combat force, but what we do have is secrecy and information. And without that, we would be nothing. Merely my name could be used as a dangerous weapon."
"You have enough of a direct combat force to attack a four-hundred man crew of a UNSC Halberd-class destroyer though. Enough men to assault UNSC personnel and interfere with an internal matter." Lasky retorted.
"As I said, Captain, I deemed the action necessary. We were watching Lieutenant Leng's progress very closely. When we learned about the divide between your navy and the Office of Naval Intelligence, and when it not only put our agent but one of your officers in danger, I ordered for a direct intervention. Minimal damage was done to the ship, and only minor injuries were sustained to the crew with use of stun rounds.
All that was true enough. No UNSC servicemen were killed, but a lot of Cerberus agents were lying dead on that ship. It was disturbing he didn't bring that up, no anger over the loss of men… He just seemed to ignore it.
"Right. What do you want then?" Lasky asked
He took a quick puff of the cigarette. "I believe it's pretty obvious, Captain. We have eyes and ears all over the galaxy. The moment your ship, the Legend After entered the system, we already knew. In any other circumstance, you would have been rewarded with laurels and tributes and become a part of the galactic community…"
"But we were attacked," Lasky ended the sentence for him.
"Indeed. We're at war. We've been at war for years, but the galaxy only realized it a few months ago when the enemy invaded the shores of their homeworlds. The enemy, the Reapers, will stop at nothing to ensure that Humanity along with every other sentient race in the galaxy is wiped out."
Roland appeared on a mini display next to the main one. His arms crossed.
"So how do you play into all this?" The AI asked, almost accusative.
The Illusive Man nodded, "what my lieutenant said was true. Cerberus' primary goal is the protection and advancement of Humanity at any and all costs. With the Reapers invading our worlds, we could not idly sit by. We are doing everything within our power to stop the Reapers, but they are too powerful."
"So you want our help?" Lasky said.
"Precisely." Hemerely said… If this was true, then one massive issue didn't add up.
"All 'noble' goals. And the problems between you and Commander Shepard?" Lasky brought up.
The Illusive Man turned to his cigarette, observed it as he rolled it in his hands. "That's an issue with… a deep yet relatively young history. Shepard is a part of the Systems Alliance. Humanity's main military force. Cerberus...operates out of their jurisdiction."
"Out of their jurisdiction?"
"In their eyes, we're nothing more than terrorists, "the Illusive Man explained, "extremists. Yet for years they pandered to alien races and made Humanity weak. We had no place of our own in this galaxy, and while the Systems Alliance has carved out colonies, we will always be second class citizens."
Lasky read Florence's report. Cerberus was created out of political strife, frustration, and anger. The same way the Insurrection was created. It's just that Cerberus' goals, at least what they said their goals were, aligned completely with the UNSC.
The bridge doors opened and heavily armed marine guards led by Lieutenant Dubbo walked in escorting Shepard and his crew. The crew were all stripped of their weapons.
Speak of the devil. Shepard turned to the lower floor and saw Captain Lasky and then turned to the holo-display, and Lasky could see the color drain from his face. The grim and kind emotion was replaced by near confusion, panic, and anger.
He stormed past the marine guards, past the holographic table and the naval crew.
"Illusive Man," Shepard saidas if the man's mere presence was a crime itself.
"Commander Shepard," the Illusive Man replied calmly. He took another quick drag of his cigarette. "Always a pleasure to see you."
"Drop the act. What the hell are you doing here? What do you want with them?!" Shepard yelled.
"The same thing you want. An alliance," He calmly responded. "Did you not think Cerberus would be present for something as extraordinary such as this?"
It almost seemed Shepard was about to move to punch the hologram. Lasky moved in between the two, holding his hands out.
"If we're going to have a fight, do it off my ship"
Both sides were silent. Shepard breathed heavy. He stared down the Illusive Man.
"Captain, with all due respect, this man can't be trusted!" Shepard said. "Cerberus are terrorists, extremists. They have no limit, no control on what they'll do!"
The Illusive Man flicked away ashes from his cigarette. "We only do what's necessary, Shepard. Not what's right."
Lasky looked to both of them. "You have a common enemy who's obviously been kicking your asses. Why not work together?"
No one responded. The Illusive Man returned the stare with a slight smirk. Shepard's other crew members, Tali, Liara, and Garrus finally caught up and stood at the Commander's side.
Another puff of the cigarette, the hologram spoke. "We did once."
…
Shepard was right. He was here.
Any good opportunity the crew got, anything good, and Cerberus would always be there to try and stop them. But the Illusive Man...directly taking part in an operation like this…. It didn't make sense.
Not with something like this. He didn't care about alliances. It didn't align with his goals.
And every time he appeared, it represented disaster, setback after setback, lost after lost. If he was here, God only knows what that means. What he was planning. If the UNSC aligned with him, if somehow he corroded them and manipulated them...convinced them the Council was an enemy…
This war would be lost.
Hell… He Wouldn't even need the Reapers anymore.
That is if the UNSC would've even listened to the Illusive Man, or to Shepard and the Citadel Council as a matter of fact…. But so far, many UNSC personnel seemed more interested in Cerberus.
His other crewmates, Liara, Tali, and Garrus caught up to him, surrounded the Commander as if to protect him from the threat the hologram represented. The marines under Dubbo stood on both sides of the group, rifles subtly aimed at them.
Liara stood on his right side, got close, shoulders pressed together. Her hand touched his arm, fingers slid down his palm.
Right….right… Right. Lasky seemed reasonable. They'll see how the Illusive Man truly was.
"Commander Shepard will tell you it was out of pure necessity, but nonetheless both our sides benefited greatly," The Illusive Man added on.
Shepard was about to retort. That he did it for Humanity, for the Citadel races, and did everything within his power to defy the Illusive Man. But Lasky stopped him.
"Before we start again, what exactly happened? Why did you work together? How did this all start?"
Good questions.
How it all started. The long three years, all leading to this. God. Three years... A year and a half to him… technically…. Either way, Shepard would've never imagined himself in this position.
The Commander sighed. "What do you want? The very beginning?"
"Anything that'll help us understand the entire situation better, Commander…" Lasky was silent for a moment. "For starters...You used to work together. Why not work together now?"
The Illusive Man looked to Shepard, spoke without needing their approval. "No one believed the Reapers were coming despite all the evidence pointing to the contrary… Shepard and his crew are all galactic heroes, Captain, and that means everything coming from me. These people standing before you showed extraordinary bravery and courage in the face of death, defending a weakened galactic federation from total annihilation. And in the process...stalled the Reaper invasion.
"That is one of the few things we can agree on, Shepard." He said, snide and hostile. "You allowed the galaxy to have a fighting change, despite your...shortsightedness."
Shepard and his crew looked to each other. They were concerned, reminiscent, nostalgic even. All the feelings that could be associated with the events on Eden Prime, Therum, Noveria, Feros, Virmire, and Ilos. Garrus once said that those were the good ol' days. When everything was simple, relatively. Before Shepard was...killed.
Well, it didn't feel quite so simple then. But...it wouldn't be too bad to go back to those times compared to everything else that was going on.
"That's when pretty much everything started." Shepard said. "The Reaper invasion began three years ago…
"Three years ago, me and my team were deployed to the colony world Eden Prime after we received reports that they were under attack by…" Oh God, how do you explain the Geth? "...the Geth. They're a rogue AI group that causes a lot of problems-"
"To say the least…" Tali interjected
There was a moment of silence. Captain Lasky sighed, motioned for Shepard to continue.
"We were deployed to secure a Prothean data beacon recently discovered a few days beforehand to ensure it didn't fall into enemy hands. When we got there, I came in contact with the beacon." Shepard finished.
He let Liara take the reins. Her hand was still grasping his, "the beacon Shepard came in contact with was part of a communications system of the Prothean Empire, an advanced alien civilization that was wiped out fifty-thousand years ago by the Reapers. It was meant for civilizations that were left out in the Reaper's onslaught in order to learn about the threat and prepare for the invasion."
Lasky nodded, taking the information as if he understood. How could have anyone understood this though? The Reapers were imprinted into Shepard's mind yet it took him a while to even accept the fact that something so ridiculous, out of place, so...horrifying and frightening could even be real.
The images he saw… They were just so vivid, so real… Terrifying...
"Can you confirm all this?" Lasky said, looking to the Illusive Man who patiently stood there, puffing his cigarette. The hologram nodded. "What the hell are the Reapers then? And you mentioned the Protheans before. Who are they?"
"The Reapers are an ancient race of machines. Artificial Intelligence," The Illusive Man said. "Each ship houses a single AI. We don't know exactly why, but they're goal is to wipe out all technologically advanced, space-faring races in the galaxy at all costs."
"With respect, that raises a lot more questions than answers." Lasky responded. "How old are they?"
"Over Millions," he replied. "We don't know exactly how old they are, but from data analysis and carbon-dating of destroyed Reapers, the youngest we've come across is around twenty-two million years old. According to what few information sources we have on them, they eliminate all space-faring life approximately every fifty-thousand years. A cyclical system. Once they eliminate all technologically advanced races, the cycle begins anew. Species that haven't developed space technology are left alone. The Reapers go into hiding in dark space while these primitive races advance, evolve, and once they reach the apex of their glory…
"Their civilization and everybody within it is wiped out."
Lasky turned to Roland. He looked bewildered and uneasy. Yeah. That was reasonable. Everything they said was nearly impossible etc, etc. At least the Captain couldn't deny it, "dismiss this claim" like the Citadel Council did numerous times, denying every possible piece of evidence that pointed to a Reaper invasion.
But the Council was scared. They were dealing with things on a literal galactic scale. And the galaxy after Saren's attack was a fragile place, completely changed forever. They had their reasons to deny it. They didn't want to see it. Shepard couldn't blame them
Lasky and Roland's concern seem to quickly fade. They turned back to Shepard.
"And the Protheans?" Lasky said. "You said they were wiped out by the Reapers about fifty-thousand years ago. Wouldn't there be some type of historical evidence that would provide context to their disappearance? Or was their disappearance muddled somehow like the Harappan or Mayan civilization?"
""I've studied Prothean ruins for fifty years." Liara said, And again, both the AI and Captain looked confused. Right. Liara is nearly a hundred-six years old but barely looks a day past twenty-four.
"How old-" Roland began.
"We had no idea how they disappeared until recently, when we learned about the Reapers," Liara continued, avoiding questions about her age and the lifespan of the Asari. "They wiped out nearly all evidence of their existence save for the beacons and a few data caches the Protheans hid. We've only discovered these beacons and caches at the technical beginning of the Reaper invasion when they started to signal the beginning of the end of the cycle," Liara continued.
"The Reaper invasion was to take place three years ago. They sent out a vanguard ship called 'Sovereign' to destroy and cripple our main governmental alliance, the Citadel Council," Shepard added on.
"And you represent the Citadel Council, right?" Roland asked.
"Imagine them as the United Nations expect with a lot more sway and power. Each race has a representative, and the four main races that decide galactic policy are the Asari, Turians, Salarians, and human,." Liara responded. "But his jurisdiction is with the Systems Alliance. Humanity's military force."
Lasky let Shepard continue. "No one believed an attack would happen. So I assembled a crew who knew the attack would take place in order to stop it."
"The people standing before me," Lasky commented.
Shepard nodded. He sighed and after that, the long explanation began. The old adventures three years ago. Shepard left out all the "unimportant" details such as how he met his crew, who they lost along the way, the dozens of battles they had to fight. A very brief, bare-to-the-bones summary to say the least. Shepard even left out the part about the Geth (mostly because they were turned into allies).
Shepard got to Sare and his connection to the Reapers through indoctrination along with what indoctrination was. Lasky seemed disturbed by the prospect. He looked to Roland who only seemed worried. Well, who wouldn't?
The Illusive Man showed no expression, just attended to his cigarette. And Lasky listened attentively.
Every once and awhile the Commander's story was interrupted by a priority combat situation report Lasky had to attend to. So far, the UNSC was winning decisively. They controlled a good portion of the solar system and were making their final push to secure Nos Astra. It was only a matter of time before they gained the system.
Shepard went ahead to the final battle on the Citadel. How he sacrificed a decent portion of the Systems Alliance Navy in order to save the Council and the Citadel Defense Fleet.
Over hundreds of sailors and marines lost...
And here Shepard thought he would hear the same sneering judgement the Illusive Man had shown before at this decision. Or worse, reprisal from Captain Lasky. But he remained silent, letting Shepard tell the story. No similar accusations or claims thrown out by news reporters and other humans. How he let them all die...
Shepard finally reached the end, of useless patrols out on the galactic rim that the Council assigned him. Get him as far away as possible so he can shut up about the Reapers.
"Was it worth it? Making the choice to save all those people that cost Human lives?" Lasky asked before the Commander could continue. No accusation or anger. Almost some sort of sympathy, as if he understood.
And he called them people. Not aliens, or xenos, or whatever
"The sacrifice of the Council and the majority of their defense fleet while maintaining the full strength of our fleets would have ensured Human dominance," The Illusive Man interjected.
"With all due respect, I asked Commander Shepard."
Lasky looked to the Commander. Shepard was silent for a moment…
As Shepard thought about it, the first thing they taught him at officer's school was that no plan survives first contact with the enemy and that both the right decision and the wrong decision will get people killed.
It didn't make him feel any better. Nothing ever will.
"I did what I thought was right. Not just for humanity, but for the galaxy," Shepard answered.
"Okay." Lasky simply replied, as if it were satisfying. He turned to the Illusive Man. "So how did you exactly meet Shepard?"
"Simple. The Reapers deployed another vanguard group, this one targeting specifically Human colonies. They were colloquially called the Collectors since they abducted colonists. Shepard's ship, the original Normandy was ambushed by a Collector ship, and Commander Shepard was killed in action," The Illusive Man said.
"Misidentification?" Lasky said, smirked. "Well, we did the same thing with the Master Chief. We thought he was killed in action on a Covenant garden world. Turns out in fact he survived and was still fighting when we found him five years later."
Shepard and the crew shifted uncomfortably. Shepard awkwardly got the words out. "I...was actually killed. Like, I did die."
Lasky still had the smirk, looking at Roland quickly. The pieces were slowly connecting. It took him a moment. "Wait. Killed In Action?"
"My exospheric gear was damaged, I immediately lost pressure and oxygen… I was gone…" Shepard said.
"It took two years and billions of credits." The Illusive Man said. "But as I said, Shepard was...is a hero. If anyone was to stop the Collector, and more importantly the Reaper threat, it would be him. What Shepard had explained to you -Sovereign, Saren- its significance has altered the course of galactic history.
"We called the operation to resurrect Shepard Project Lazarus, as reference to the biblical mythological story."
"Jesus…" Captain Lasky said.
"Quite."
"...Wait, mate…You bloody respawned like in a video game?" Lieutenant Dubbo said, stationed now at the holotable. "Did you actually see Jesus on the other side? Or was it like...Allah, or Zeus or something?"
"...How did you bring someone to life after two years?" Roland asked, shocked.
"I'm still having a hard time accepting this..." Lasky interrupted. So that was the hard part? "Obviously Shepard did a lot. But why spend this much time and resources to 'revive' a single man?"
"Funny. I ask the same thing to myself every day," The Illusive Man responded. "But the best examples I can use are within the last three months. Shepard is the perfect leader. He is able to inspire people to fight till the very end despite no chance of survival. You can order men to charge the enemy, but you can't make them believe. Shepard was able to. He possesses the ability to truly lead, to truly command. There are very few men like this. Fewer who believed in the Reaper threat."
Funny. Shepard's "ability" in the past three months was a pain in the ass to the Illusive Man. And either way, Shepard never really felt that way. At least he never felt like he knew what he was doing. It just felt like a massive charade of competency and deep patience. The care however was genuine. He was sure of that.
"Yeah. In the past three months you tried to stop us at every turn," Tali said.
"Admittedly-" The Illusive Man began.
"No! Why are we sitting here taking this!?" Tali yelled. The tiredness seemed to be hitting her the most. "You've tried to kill Shepard, and me, and the rest of the crew dozens of times, and successfully killed thousands more just to try and stop us! You want us to lose-"
"That's enough, Tali." Shepard interrupted, trying to calm her down.
Tali out of all of them hated Cerberus the most. It was on a personal level, ever since Cerberus attacked the Migrant Fleet. That, and Shepard also knew she wasn't exactly the most tactful and patient person of the group. Liara and Shepard knew how to maneuver...most of the time. And Garrus knew when to keep quiet.
"We'll deal with it. We've got this. Okay?" Shepard said. Tali's eyes darted to the Illusive Man, then to Captain Lasky, and back to Shepard. A small nod. She understood, fully confident in him.
"See what I mean, Captain?" The Illusive Man said, presenting the two. "His crew believes in him. For now."
What the hell did that mean? What did he know?
Lasky spoke, "alright, then let's skip to the present if there's this much bad blood. You two worked together to stop the Collectors. I'll assume it was successful. And let me guess, you only worked with him because this Council or the Systems Alliance didn't believe you and wouldn't help you, right? Just like with Saren and Sovereign?"
Shepard nodded, "I was court-martialed for working with a known terrorist organization when I came back to the Systems Alliance once the Collectors were defeated. The trial lasted for a few months, then abruptly ended with the Reaper invasion. I was reinstated under emergency wartime law."
"Right. So, what happened?"
"The Citadel Council and the Systems Alliance were not prepared for the Reaper invasion. The Reapers cut through all our defenses and reached Earth within a couple hours. They cut off all our communications buoys, and before anyone knew what was going on, they attacked Earth. Alliance High Command along with the majority of the Marine Corps and Planetary Army was wiped out. There are two high ranking survivors left: Admiral David Anderson and Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett, the latter of which now serves as Chief of Naval Operations. Fleet Admiral Hackett saved the majority of our navy after he called a full retreat from the system. Six out of the seven fleets still remain and are still combat effective. As for Admiral Anderson, he is currently leading the resistance back on Earth."
"You weren't prepared at all?" Lasky asked.
"Like I said, and I guess like the Illusive Man said, no one believed in the Reapers until they began invading their homes. Admiral Anderson reinstated me because, like the Illusive Man, he believed I was the most capable to gather allies to fight the Reapers and retake Earth. And for the past three months that's what I've been doing. Gathering allies from all corners of the galaxy. Aliens, governments, mercenaries, galactic criminal organizations; reaching out to ships and battle groups listed M.I.A, creating mobile militia groups, helping organize civilian evac and medical efforts and establish refugee areas across the galaxy, securing planets and outer colonies, creating emergency logistical supply lines, anything that'll help us fight the Reapers."
Lasky was taken back. He looked to his crew, maybe for the first time realizing what it took to come together. "You and your crew have been doing this for the past three months without any assistance?"
"Our capabilities far exceed special operations," Liara said.
"Yeah. Well-rounded, multi-role unconventional warfare." Lasky said. "You must be quite an important asset. I'm impressed, Commander."
Shepard took the compliment in after all this, every effort, every sacrifice his crew made...the galactic causality list was still adding up. It will continue to…
"The thing is, this isn't enough," Shepard said, hiding what he truly thought. "The Reaper ships alone are more powerful than an entire fleet, and they have hundreds upon hundreds of them. When Sovereign attacked three years ago it took the entire effort of the Systems Alliance Navy and Citadel Defense Fleet just to take him down, and they might've not been able to if Saren didn't...commit suicide."
It will all add up. Because...their efforts meant nothing in the end…
It meant nothing.
Earth was gone. Palavan was on the verge of falling. The Reapers had begun their invasion of the Asari outer colonies...
You exist because we allow it.
And you will end because we demand it.
Sovereign said those words to him three years ago.
Lasky said something. Shepard didn't notice. Liara squeezed the Commander's hand. She responded. "Yes. We do need the UNSC but we found a way to stop the Reapers. But what we need is time to put this plan into effect. That's why we've been gathering allies, to buy us that time."
Liara continued to squeeze his hand.
Lasky nodded. "I see. And what is this plan?"
No one spoke. Shepard tried...but he couldn't...as if he was behind a glass wall and couldn't get out. Shepard motioned to the Illusive Man, and Lasky got the message.
"It's called the Crucible." The Illusive Man said, annoyed and condescending. "The first time I tried to kill Shepard was at the Mars Prothean archive research center. Since communication was cut off in the system, Shepard was sent to retrieve the schematics for this Crucible."
The Illusive Man stepped aside, brought up the basic schematic picture of the weapon. The green image of the smooth curved weapon covered the core of harsh geometrical shapes. Prothean hieroglyphics were painted next to the image, moving up and down and across the screen.
Right. He also had information on the device also. Probably a lot less than Shepard and the Citadel Council, but enough to know what it was and that it's being built.
Lasky eyes seemed to widen for a moment as if he lost control for a split second. Shepard seemed to be the only one to notice.
And the next split second, Lasky regained control. Back to the military stoicism.
Roland was more obvious. His yellow arms dropped to his side, took a step back. He just stared in shock and awe at the image.
"What is it?" Lasky simply asked.
"It's a weapon" The Illusive Man said. "A weapon to supposedly stop the Reapers. From what we can tell, the Protheans pooled whatever resources they had left to build this. It should've ended the war and saved their species. However, they were missing a piece known as the Catalyst. They ran out of time, and their species was soon wiped out."
"They didn't complete the Catalyst?" Lasky asked.
"We aren't completely sure." Liara reluctantly said. "From what we can decipher, it looks like the Catalyst activates the Crucible's firing system. It sounds like the Protheans were trying to search for it instead of build it. But they couldn't find it."
Roland mumbled something. Shepard didn't catch what it was. The A.I spoke up before anyone could question it.
"So what does the Crucible do?" Roland asked.
"We...also don't...know." Liara said as if ashamed.
"You don't...know? Lasky echoed. "How do you know it'll destroy the Reapers?"
She thought about it. The dark blue eyes were fully confident. "We have faith."
"That's a lot of faith to put in a single pla,." Lasky said. The same tone. Calm and sympathetic. "What happens if the weapon is...not what you think? Or worse, it doesn't work?"
Shepard spoke. "If the Crucible 'isn't' what we think...that's a risk we'll have to take. And if it doesn't work…"
He gripped her hand. It was unbearably hot. Still, no one noticed.
Or he thought no one noticed.
"...We'll fight to the end." Shepard said as confident as he could.
Lasky took a moment, head down, stared at floor tiles and feet. He turned to the Illusive Man.
"Since both sides know some basic knowledge of this Crucible, can I have a copy of those schematics?"
"By all means." The Illusive Man replied.
Lasky nodded. He told Roland to analyze the schematics and send him a report on the findings. Lasky turned back to Shepard.
"Five years ago, Humanity, our Humanity, was on the verge of extinction. We were almost wiped out. So I won't pretend this plan is stupid or idiotic, because we also relied on faith alone to win the war. But there just seems to be a lot of unknown variables." Lasky ended.
"Well, I mean was it worse than what we placed faith in?" Shepard responded.
Lasky spoke defensively, "we placed our faith in the Master Chief."
Shepard was shocked. Every soldier part of the UNSC they came across nearly worshipped him. When Lasky saw those soldiers' reactions he just seemed annoyed. Shepard just thought of Lasky differently from what he witnessed of him so far. Not part of the UNSC status quo of xenophobia and hero worship.
Lasky sighed, looking at the Illusive Man. "What's your stake in all this?"
The Illusive Man took a moment to respond, picking his words carefully. "As I said, the Crucible is a weapon. I theorized that in order to use this weapon to rapidly destroy the Reapers, would be through the Relay network."
Yeah. Just don't mention you want to control them just yet.
"Network?" Roland said.
"The Relays are spread across the galaxy to various star clusters. They were created by the Reapers millions of years ago in order for species to technologically evolve along a path they desire so it can be easier to wipe them out.
"The Crucible would utilize the network to disperse what I imagine would be a lockdown code to deactivate the Reapers. Or, possibly a massive EMP pulse that'll disable all technology within the star cluster."
"But in order to "rapidly" destroy the Reapers, it would require some type of way for the signal to surpass light speed, wouldn't it?" Roland said. "I mean, we witnessed Reaper ships going FTL but you can make comms FTL too?"
The Illusive Man's cigarette burned out. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an expensive looking lighter and a small pack. He opened up the pack and pulled out another cigarette, lit it up. Took a drag. "Indeed. We use eezo, electrified dark energy, as the source of our communications and travel systems. We've developed ways to direct the eezo current carrying the radio message to travel through the Relay using communications buoys that link these signals. It could be possible the Crucible directs the currents through the Relays, and disperse them through the star cluster without the need for buoys.
"Breaking the fundamentals of physics." Roland retorted.
"We've already developed numerous ways for starships to surpass the speed of light in semi-conventional space. It doesn't break the laws of physics quite. It… avoids obstacles, for the lack of a better term."
The AI avatar didn't seem satisfied. He crossed his arms. "Or it could be a tachyon particle."
The AI eyed Captain Lasky. The Captain looked to everyone, almost uncomfortable.
"I apologize, but I need a moment in private with my AI," Lasky said. He turned and walked to the other side of the bridge. Lieutenant Dubbo was still near the holo-table, chatting with some other marines. "Lieutenant, keep them company. Make sure they don't kill each other."
…
Everything he said was nearly impossible. Was proven to be impossible. Right?
Despite Humanity's prowess, the Forerunners were far more advanced even in death. They were able to last tens of thousands of years, evolving and advancing to unprecedented measures.
But an AI lasting millions of years? The CPU and power requirements to support an intelligence that old would be the size and equivalent to a star. Even Forerunner AIs showed signs of rampancy over time.
And beyond that, what the hell happened then fifty-thousand years ago… What happened one-hundred-thousand years ago? Because the UNSC knows what happened one-hundred-thousands years ago wasn't due to the Reapers.
Everything Shepard and Illusive Man had explained was already crazy enough. But some of the correlations, the few, were disturbing.
Lasky exited the bridge and made sure the doors closed behind him. There was an AI stand right next to the doorway where Roland appeared.
"What was that?" Lasky said, accusatively. "Tachyons?"
"I was just trying to get your attention, sir." Roland said.
Lasky nodded. "Well, what did you find? What do you think?"
Roland brought up the picture of the Crucible. This time it was painted in bright yellow. "Well, it's just a basic schematic. I've identified multiple alphabetical symbols and logogram groups of different languages. A decent portion of the languages I can't identify, but…"
He stepped back and the image of this Crucible disappeared and thousands of symbols replaced it…
Forerunner.
"Forerunner alphabetical symbols, and logograms." Roland said, crossed his arms and observed the symbols as they moved up and down on the screen. "It takes up a massive chunk of the data. And here you can see a second set of unidentifiable patterns and symbols. From what I'm seeing, it's almost like a Rosetta Stone, possibly. Each language is organized in rows one after another."
Roland brought up another Forerunner symbol. The UNSC wasn't able to even begin deciphering the Forerunner language, but this symbol was obvious. It was on every Forerunner artifact encountered.
The Symbol of the Reclaimers.
Humanity.
The Ark, the artifacts, the Composer, every Halo had this symbol. An eclipsed circle surrounded by four horning segments with a single tail at the bottom circle that traveled to the surrounding parts. Simple, and in the eyes of the UNSC it always meant trouble.
"Is the design Forerunner? What does it do?" Lasky asked.
"I can't tell you from this information. But from the picture alone and all the descriptions, there is some evidence of those smooth, hard cut geometrical shapes the Forerunner love. The Reclaimer symbol tells a lot. If it's Forerunner…" Roland began.
"Assume highly dangerous," Lasky finished.
Roland was silent. Looked down and crossed his arms.
The civilian population, and a large portion of enlisted personnel and the officer corps didn't know about the Forerunners, the Ark, the Rings… The Flood. The Marines, sailors, and civilians present during the final battle at New Mombasa, Voi, and the surrounding regions knew pieces of information depending on who they were.
Lord Hood called for the Hillside Memorial to remain barren. But before that, ONI buried the Forerunner superstructure in nearly a kilometer of dirt and sanitized and destroyed thousands of records, and kept tight control over the people who knew any info on the Forerunners It was the only job ONI Section Three carried out that the Navy and HIGHCOM fully supported.
But those who truly knew… The survivors of the Pillar of Autumn, the strike team of the UNSC Forward unto Dawn and Aegis Fate, the thousands of scientists and security working on Forerunner installations, the crew of the Infinity...were all swore to secrecy. To enforce Cole Protocol.
Maybe it would help them in their situation if Shepard and his crew knew, especially if whatever the hell they were building was a fully operational Forerunner weapon. But Lasky wasn't sure if Lord Hood would be able to save him from the consequences of such actions. If he would want to save him.
Lasky might as well tell them the exact coordinates to Earth.
"Well...how would they build a Forerunner structure?" Lasky asked. "We've been trying to mimic large, advanced Forerunner tech for years but the best we can do is scavenge some of the less complex tech and integrate it with our ships and comms."
Forerunner technology was on a completely different level from the UNSC. The vast amounts of resources, materials, energy systems, and mere costs are impossible to meet even at the UNSC's technological peak in 2557. Something such as the Rings could never be replicated. Anything that large would form a sphere due to gravitational law. That's why gas giants and all solid planets are spheres, it's just the way gravity pushes large amounts of mass together. So for the energy to stabilize a non-spherical shape and to produce such tremendous amounts of energy for tens of thousands of years to maintain a ring shape would be equivalent to a sun.
And for something such as the Ark or Requiem… Christ knows how they did it. The mere energy to hold its shape, how the relativistic force of gravity was distributed across to maintain a comfortable one-point-two gravitations….
But the UNSC was able to use basic Forerunner ship tech, able to synthesize small light-bridges (though they were highly experimental and unpredictable, and at the current cost they didn't seem worth it), and design some Forerunner comm relay systems. Relatively, those are easy though.
"Well, sir, let's not completely dismiss them as technologically...less advanced." Roland said. "I mean, they revived a dead guy. KIA. A body nearly destroyed from depressurization. And somehow, they did it. We've tried for so long and never been able to accomplish something like this."
"Roland, I don't think Shepard actually died. He was just really near death." Lasky said. That's what most likely happened, right?
"Possibly," Roland said. "I mean hell, FTL is a feat on its own."
"And you've discovered it's dark energy?"
"So far, on what we know. It has some interesting and complicated properties to say the least. But it's why the Universe is constantly expanding, and speeding up."
It would make sense if they use dark energy for starships then. Use the same property of constant universal expansion and apply it on their ships. Their ships would start out at a low speed and constantly get faster...past the point of the speed of light… and somehow accelerate in under minutes...which was impossible.
Nevermind. It doesn't make sense. Time and velocity is relative to the observer. When Roland gave velocity readings it was usually relative to the Infinity. So their ship should've been under light speed, not past it. The energy levels would have to be literally infinite to accelerate a ship to those speeds.
But the Relay transported them across the galaxy nearly instantaneously through conventional means.
"Right. How big is this Crucible anyways?" Lasky changed the subject
"About sixteen klicks, give or take." Roland responded. "If they're trying to build a Forerunner structure, I'm sure this isn't the actual design. Some bastardized, knock-off version of it that'll be easier for them to build."
"And they'll need a 'Reclaimer' to activate it," Lasky said. Roland nodded. "Was I the only one a little worried when they mentioned a Catalyst?"
"Well, it'd be a little bit too coincidental. I don't think this thing, whatever it is, is the Sacred Icon. Besides, the Crucible would already exist. Right? The schematics would lead them to a destination of the Crucible and a mention of a Library. But...it just says that they need to find the Catalyst."
A catalyst to begin the firing process… Sacred Icon, Index.
Or it could be a number of Forerunner artifacts or superstructures spread throughout the galaxy. The Catalyst could be a Ring, could be the Ark, Ark ship, Requiem, that shield world they found Halsey on… the Composer.
"That's all you can tell?" Lasky asked.
Roland shrugged. "For now, unfortunately. We still have to analyze. I'll file a report, send it on the next ship out and back to FLEETCOM so the eggheads and AIs there can begin their process."
Lasky nodded. "Okay… Now let's get to the big question. What about the Humans?"
And Earth. The homeworld.
Roland sighed. He crossed his arms and leaned against an imaginary wall. The poor guy looked tired. "The reports from the Master Chief indicated that the Forerunners...specifically a Forerunner known as the Librarian...claimed that they had implanted "seeds." Whatever that means. Seeds that influenced Humanity's evolution, our specific technological advancement that would create the Spartan Program, Cortana, and MJOLNIR armor."
Lasky read about that… The implication that the Forerunners had that much influence over Humanity was...astounding. It was thought only before the Forerunners could only influence a species by specific placement of artifacts and genetic manipulation. But what the Forerunners are implying…
"Do you think she meant the Forerunners specifically created the Master Chief and Cortana, or just a general...blueprint, for the lack of a better term?" Lasky said.
"Well, she said specific advancement...but I...can't even begin to imagine if they meant that. It has to be a vague "blueprint" of a super soldier. AI support to have deep access to Forerunner systems and some advanced armor to protect him against the Flood and Forerunner security systems… Maybe she used those same type of 'seeds' to influence Shepard and the Illusive Man's Humanity. Grouped off a bunch of Humans, terraformed a planet and 'guided their evolution.'"
"What about their technological advancement?"
"I don't know. This dark energy, these Protheans… The Reapers. We've never seen, mind you, dark energy based tech, and we've never seen AIs on this scale. But Shepard and Liara said the Reapers influenced their tech advancement through the Relays and the Crucible. And the Relays are an unidentified structure with Forerunner add-ons. Maybe...the Forerunners found it...and..."
Roland went into deep contemplation, pacing back and forth in silence.
God. And Lasky had to deal with this seemingly trivial garbage between the Illusive Man and Shepard. Talk about more unneeded stress.
And the Reapers. They can't be millions of years old. They would've been wiped out...by the Forerunners ….or the Flood. Yet it's implications meant a fundamental change for AI theory. Along with this rogue AI group, the Geth… AI with fee intelligence…
If there was AI millions of years old, AI free to develop on their own… What did that mean for Cortana?
A lot to take in. These Protheans, whoever they were, were definitely some species the Forerunners transported on their Ark ships. Their advancement was most likely accelerated due to the large presence of numerous Forerunner artifacts. That's obvious enough.
The Protheans jump started. Maybe they didn't contact the UNSC homeworld but Shepard's homeworld. Somehow, they influenced this second group of Humanity…
So why did the Forerunners create two groups of Humans?
The best they could do was dig. Find out more. Maneuver through this, at least till they fully secure the system and Lord Hood gets here.
"Well, our best course of action is to get back in there. Figure out what we can. Any report on Lord Hood?" Lasky said.
"I just got an update. Lord Hood jumped the sol system on a Autumn-class cruiser. He'll be here in t-minus two hours."
"Yeah. Start writing up a full report on everything we know so far. Prepare to send it."
"Already done, Skipper." Roland said. He disappeared from the display to reappear on the holo-display aboard the bridge. Lasky took a deep breath, straightened out his uniform and took a second to collect his thoughts.
Only easy day was yesterday.
…
It was just an awkward silence besides the hum of the ship and the slight breeze of the air from the life support system. That's one thing Shepard noticed. The air didn't feel like that sterile, recycled, artificial nitrogen-oxygen mix. It didn't feel fresh, but his nose hurt a lot less.
The four crewmembers of the Normandy watched the Illusive Man. As if he could do anything. He simply stood there, smoking his cigarette. He opened up a screen every once and awhile and typed something in.
Garrus was also keeping a watchful eye on Tali. She swayed every once and awhile, shifting her weight back and forth. She looked like she was desperately looking for a place to sit down. But she held it together. She had to.
Liara was holding together. She still held Shepard's hand...She was still there. Shepard was still there…
And watching the crew was First Lieutenant Dubbo, sanding to the side while holding a black SMG-like weapon. Shepard could confidently describe as a simple happy-go-lucky Australian.
The Illusive Man opened up a second screen. Blue lips smiled as he took another puff.
He said something. Shepard didn't even interpret what he said at first. They were just jumbled noises, incoherent and muddled.
It took him a minute to interpret it.
"How's Operative Lawson doing these days?" The Illusive Man had simply said.
For God's sake.
What the hell did he know about Miranda? How the hell did he find out about her? She was careful, she knew all of the Cerberus protocols. Why bring it up? Just to bait them? Him? To start another petty argument in the eyes of the UNSC?
He was just trying to get to him. That's all it was. He might know about Miranda but the Illusive Man couldn't have caught her. Not yet at least. She's too good.
So what the hell did he mean by it though?
Shepard held it together. Tried to the best he could. He didn't respond, didn't say anything to that son-of-a-bitch.
Shepard couldn't lose another member of his crew. He couldn't lose them, not her. Not after Legion and Mordin.
Shepard resisted the urge to yell at him, to accuse him, to find out what he had done.
And as he contained his rage, as he held it together, he thought to himself: that's all it took? A single sentence just to throw Shepard off? He was able to handle himself better. He always had been able to. That's why he was picked for this mission, that's why he wasn't on Earth.
It's seemed harder now.
The best Shepard could do was to not show anything. No shakiness, tiredness, or any emotion. Nothing the Illusive Man could perceive. Shepard wasn't going to let him find more weaknesses.
The Illusive Man grunted, widened the screen, "she's running out of time, Shepard. We're all running out of time."
Dubbo looked from Shepard's group to the Illusive Man a little confused.
"Rioght, mates. What's going on 'ere?" He said, making sure he stepped in between the two.
"My apologies, Lieutenant." The Illusive Man responded. "We were discussing an old acquaintance we both knew."
Goddamn you.
Shepard was about to step forward, about to throw Dubbo out of the way to get to him. Liara grabbed him by the arm. And he remembered where he was. Everything they had done to get here.
The Illusive Man couldn't be given the chance to ruin this. At least not through a mistake Shepard made.
They've beaten Cerberus before. They could do it again. Here.
The Illusive Man didn't notice Shepard's movement since he was blocked by Dubbo, and Dubbo wasn't the most observant it seems. Shepard stepped back to where he was. Liara softened her grip on his arm.
"Well, whatever it is, both you two keep quiet 'till the Skipper gets back." Dubbo responded. "We got enough problems to worry about without you two tryin' to kill each other."
No one said anything more. Maybe another ten minutes had passed. Shepard tried to focus on something else. Anything else.
He wondered what Roland and Lasky were discussing.
All Roland did was mention the Crucible delivery system might be through tachyon particles, not FTL eezo. No Citadel species had ever discovered a tachyon particle. It defied the laws of physics...sort of. In any event, maybe it connected somehow to those 'Forerunners' they mentioned.
So then who were the Forerunners? Maybe they were one in the same with the Protheans? Maybe the UNSC had discovered the Relays before and didn't realize what they were. He didn't know. No one knew what the Crucible would do. The use of the Relays was just a theory by the Illusive Man. Shepard will admit the theory did make sense, and it's not like they haven't thought of it, it's just that the Alliance or Citadel scientists didn't have enough evidence to prove it.
So what exactly tripped up Captain Lasky. Maybe Liara or Tali had more of a clue.
The Illusive Man quietly continued his work.
A quick alarm sounded off. The naval personnel busy at work aboard the bridge stopped what they were doing to listen. "Attention all hands, attention all hands. Now hear this. This is UNSC AI Roland. We are moving away from Staff of Charon. At aphelion of elliptical arc we're going to rendezvous with the battle group at the God's Key. Expect increased gravitation near the portside bow aft. Roland out."
The AI could run numerous systems at once. It's weird to think the UNSC doesn't have something as simple as inertia dampeners or shield armor en mass, yet they still had something as complex as these ships and their AIs.
Another ten minutes passed. Dubbo began pacing around, starting to wonder if everything's okay.
After another five minutes later, Roland appeared on the display next to the Illusive Man. The bridge doors opened and Captain Lasky stepped out.
"I apologize for that. We've just received a few urgent reports and had to take care of the situation. It'll please you to know, Lord Hood will arrive within two hours." Lasky said.
Dubbo saluted him, then moved out of the way. Lasky retook his place.
"I completely understand," The Illusive Man responded. "It will also please you to know that my transports are nearing your ship with survivors from the Legend After."
Lasky nodded, "Infinity traffic control will work with your transports. We deeply appreciate it."
Shepard began to feel that slight gravitation announced by the AI. The Staff of Charon moved out of view, and Shepard could feel himself being pulled towards the back end of the bridge.
"Gentlemen, as I said, I apologize. Where were we?" Lasky said.
Shepard felt beyond the point of exhaustion. As the dizziness and everything else began to fade, it just left him tired.
No time for rest.
"The Catalyst and the Crucible," Tali said. "And I believe the Illusive Man was about to explain his plans for the Reapers."
"Okay…" Lasky simply said, nodding. "We've established we have no idea what the Crucible really does. But we still haven't figured out what's stopping you two from putting aside your differences."
The Illusive Man was silent for a moment. He finished a cigarette and took out another. "We don't want to destroy the Reapers.
"We want to control them."
There it was. The crazy monster was beginning to reveal itself.